Richard And Jo Demeester's photos

Short pine trees near the top of Mt Olympus, near Troödos.

The Holy Monastery of St Nicholas of the Cats. What did I say about Cyprus and cats? Cute, hey.

Sit down for a few seconds in the cat sanctuary, and felines are quickly arguing over who gets to occupy your lap. This sanctuary is near the town of Akrotiri, in one of the British Sovereign Base Areas.

Why are we laughing? Because I had to start the timer and run to get in the shot, and nearly didn't make it! The pillars are the remains of the Temple of Apollo.

A section of floor from a house that was destroyed many centuries ago in an earthquake. It is now known as the “Gladiator's House”, for obvious reasons.

Spread out from our photo location through to the city on the other side are abandoned houses that now sit in “No Man's Land”. These were abandoned when the Turkish troops were advancing in the north. Now, they are in the United Nations Buffer Zone, a strip patrolled by white helicopters and men in blue berets. This particular spot was the scene of particularly events. An unarmed man from the Republic was kicked and beaten to death in the late 90's. And a week later, a man protesting about the event was shot climbing a Turkish flagpole. Both events were witnessed by many, and captured in many photos and videos.

We are going to try and avoid getting political. In fact, we can't, because truth be known, we don't really hold an opinion as to what is “right”. The northern third of Cyprus call themselves an independent country, “The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”. The rest of Cyprus stands by the statement that the area is part of the “Republic of Cyprus” and calls the northern part the area currently held by Turkish forces. If we inadvertently anywhere make some sort of statement that implies we support the legitimacy of one over the other, then we apologise now. This photo is taken near a town called Deryneia, where the tensions are still perhaps a little higher than elsewhere.

Despite the mess and chaos in the streets, the beauty of Pécs architecture is very hard to deny. The coloured tiles on the roof are quite the local feature.

The local porcelain is held in pretty high regard. It catches the light in beautiful ways, morphing through multitudes of shades of blue, green, and purple, depending on what the sun is doing.

Thanks so very much, Judít. We met Judít via a website, couchsurfers, and it started with having a coffee. That afternoon, she drove us out in to the surrounding area. The sculpture park (which we had no idea about, and in fact, nobody we asked knew about) was a beautiful and amazing stop (see other pic). And then to Villány for wine tastings. And yes, Judít, I think we agree (well I (Richard) do), despite the area being best known for its reds, the white here was amazing. The cellar was Günzer Tamás. It is quite the feat to convince me to choose a white wine over a red! And the mushrooms from her mushroom farm – they were fantastic on steak with a blue cheese sauce! Oh, and she bought us some delicious regional pastries that went down a treat. Judít, since you couldn't make it for dinner that night, the offer still stands! We expect you one day in our home in Melbourne. :D Let's see if you prefer Australian whites or reds!

These are the wine cellars of Villány, near Pécs. We were so glad to find that our cellar crawling in Hungary was not yet over.

Near Pécs, well, actually closer to Villány, there is a hill. Sculptors come from all over central (and eastern) Europe to create works here. It is a hill side site, with a small quarry, and maybe approaching 100 sculptures lying around.

We eventually found out what these were about. There are two corners in Pécs with thousands upon thousands of locks, all connected. Apparently, couples come here and leave a lock, to seal their love.

Pécs has a huge number of graves and tombs under one section of the town. These date from Roman times, and some have been excavated. This tomb with sarcophagus was excavated last century, but dates from the 4th Century. The paintings on the walls are original. Adam and Eve, and Daniel in the Lion's den are the best preserved Biblical scenes on the walls.

Let's just call it “Drinking In Zagreb”.

This is our third visit to Zagreb. The previous two times, we have arrived in the evening and left the following morning. So, we finally got to see the sights of Zagreb in daylight.

Dragon bridge, again.

Zagreb. The organ grinder looks on while somebody else gives his job a go.